There are different markings that may be
found on whalecraft. First there is the blacksmith's mark. This
is frequently, but not always, stamped in the iron with a steel
stamp while the iron is red hot from the forge. It is usually
on the head of a harpoon, lance blade or spade. It may be found
on the shaft of a Greener gun iron or other large irons. There
was no specific location. I have seen a harpoon from Scotland
with the blacksmith's initials I.A. stamped in the socket. The
mark may be a name, such as "E.Parker" or initials
such as "A.J.P." for Ambrose J. Peters. This
mark can help to date an iron and identify its origin (Fairhaven,
New Bedford, Nantucket, etc, knowing where the blacksmith worked).
Another marking that was stamped similarly into the head in some cases was "Cast Steel".
This indicated a superior blade for lances and spades (never
harpoons). It did not mean that the blade was cast in steel,
but that it was forged from cast steel stock. Steel held a cutting
edge far better than wrought iron. Since steel was introduced
in mass production in the 1850's, due to the Bessemer process,
it could be economically used. Although known earlier, steel
was too costly for use in whalecraft until the Bessemer process.

Another mark that is often found on harpoons,
but not other whalecraft, is the ship's identification, and also whaleboat identification.
This was put on harpoons because if a whale was struck and lost,
and another ship took that whale they would find the harpoon
from the first ship. The ship's identification on the harpoon
meant that the whale belonged to it, and not the second ship.
This was from an old law that said, "Craft claims the whale."
This was explained by Capt. W. H. Macy of Nantucket in his book,
"There She Blows! or, The Log of the Arethusa," 1877:

The general rule as established
among whalemen is, that "marked craft claims the fish so
long as he is in the water, dead or alive." The irons are
usually marked with the ship's name, or a convenient abbreviation
of it, cut with a small chisel on the flat of the shank, near
the head, and if this be found it claims the whale, provided
the claimant arrives before the whale is peeled of his blubber.
But if another ship has succeeded in cutting him in, no claim
can be made. In case the claimant appears during the process
of cutting, and a mark is found, he has a right to cut off the
blubber square with the plankshear, and take what is blow [sic]
it; but can claim nothing that has been raised above it. Such
is whaler's law, as settled by established usage; and perhaps
nothing could be devised that would be more just than that.

When a harpoon was selected for use, it
was cleaned of any preservative paint and rust, and was sharpened.
The ship's identification and the identification of the whaleboat
in which it was to be used, were crudely cut into the had with
a chisel. Sometimes the letters were formed by a series of dots
made by a point punch. Usually the ship's identification consisted
of initials, such as "E.H.A." for Eunice H. Adams.
It could also indicate the
type of whaleship, such as "B.GLA." for Bark Glacier,
shown at the left . If a harpoon does not bear these marks,
it was not selected
for use and mounted to a pole. It should be noted that the name
of the whaleship was stamped into the head or heavy part of the
shaft of British harpoons with a stamp similar to the Blacksmith's
mark, and was often accompanied by a date. The photo at the right
bears the name of whaleship CHIEFTAIN, of Kirkcaldy, Scotland.

The whaleboat identification was also put
on a harpoon to keep track of how many whales were taken by any
particular boat's crew. If a crew did not take many whales, there may be some reassignments
necessary. It was also for a friendly rivalry. These marks are
normally found on the opposite side of the head from the ship's
identification. They may be letters, such as "WB" for
Waist Boat, Roman numerals (easier to make with a chisel blade),
or a series of dots made by a punch point. Whaling ships and
barks were known as "four boaters" because they normally
carried four whaleboats on the davits. Some Arctic Steamers carried
a fifth boat on the Starboard Bow, known as the Starboard Bow
Boat.

Normally there was no whaleboat at the
starboard waist because that is where the cutting-in stage was
located. However, in some rare instances there were Arctic whalers
that carried a Starboard Waist Boat. Such a whaler was the Arctic
Steamer Karluk. Karluk only took whalebone, not blubber,
and it appears that the Starboard Waist Boat stayed in the water
to aid in removing the baleen, then was hoisted back onto the
cranes after the work was done and the whale cut adrift.

Unusual marking for Starboard
Waist Boat. Marking is on a toggle iron from the Steamer Karluk,
sailing from San Francisco, circa 1893 - 1897.

The illustration below shows
the boat positions on a typical whaleship. The illustration is
from Plate 189, Fig. 1, The Fisheries and Fishery Industries
of the United States, Section V, History and Methods of
the Fisheries by George Brown Goode, Washington, Government
Printing Office, 1887.

Smaller
whaleships, such as schooners, had only two or three boats: SB,
LB and WB, in that order. Some arctic steamers may have carried
a fifth boat on the starboard bow, known as the starboard bow
boat, and marked SBB or IIIII or V or ..... . The Arctic Steamer
Karluk is known to have carried a Starboard Waist Boat,
with harpoons marked SWB. There has been some indication that
the mate's initials were used on harpoons, but this is not normally
the case. That could be difficult to track if boat assignments
were changed. The starboard boat was known, through tradition
and courtesy, as the Captain's boat; it was headed by the 4th
mate. The larboard boat was headed by the 1st mate, the waist
boat was headed by the 2nd mate and the bow boat was headed by
the 3rd mate.

The
name of the whaling port, or blacksmith's city, was not usually
stamped on whalecraft. There are some irons that do have a city
name, but that is the exception rather than the rule. The mark
at the right is L. Cole, (Luther Cole) FAIRHAVEN, on a toggle
head Greener iron.

Some
gun harpoons that were cast iron have the inventor's name, patent
indication and date cast into the shank. This, again, was not
always the case. One common gun harpoon with such markings is
the Robert Brown gun harpoon at the left, marked "R BROWN
PATD 1850." Similar information may also be found on some
shoulder guns, darting guns and swivel guns. (See the list of
U.S. patents for whalecraft).

There are some rare early examples with
an eagle stamped in them. These were apparently made on Nantucket
in the first half of the 19th century.
The mark at the right shows an eagle with the initials SBF above
it. Samuel Brown Folger was a Nantucket blacksmith making whalecraft
as early as 1817. Another similar spade with an eagle is marked
NA and attributed to Nathaniel Atwood, a Nantucket blacksmith
ca. 1825. (Information and photo courtesy Robert Hellman, Nantucket).

The example above is on a
spade in the collection of Robert Hellman, Nantucket.

There were no markings with a crewman's
name or date. And there were no markings such as flags or pictures
of whales on whalecraft.

Note: All examples
on this page are from the author's collection, unless otherwise
noted.